Apparatus for burning liquid fuel



1931- c. R. BOYCE 1,820,774

APPARATUS FOR BURNING LIQUID FUEL Original Filed July 8. 1927 INVENTOR.

Patented 1 931 [PATENT OFFICE? mac: ii. Boron," or time; lmflcoflgm'liiranarnirjroa statesmen my,

' ajimammea iiij a, 1m, macro; n. Benewedjhauary a4, 1931.

. 1' r 1 f. I

V This invention relates tojan apparatus for burning liquid fuel, suchas oil, and-has for its. general objects to secure complete combustionof such fuel and to obtain maximum heating ,efliciencytherefrom. '1

' A further object is to' providean apparatus for burning liquid fuelwhich is extremel simple and practical in construction as wel aseflicient and reliable in operation.

Another object of the invention is to" provide1an apparatus ofthe' above.klnd having such safety features as to meet with all of therequirements for "a successful commercial use. d I

Other and more specific objects will become apparent as the natureof theinvention is better understood, and the same consists in the novel form,combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described,shown in the accompanying 'draw ings and claimed.

In the drawings, wherein likereferenee characters indicate corresponding{parts throughout theseveral views,

Figure 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic view, partly in elevation, andpartly broken away and in section, of the principal portion of thepresent apparatus including the burner, carburetor and associated parts;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentar vertical section taken'upon line 2-2Figure 1.

Referring more in detail to the drawings, the present apparatus includesa burner embodying a relatively, large combustion tube 5, open at'itsends and adapted to be rigidly mounted in a horizontal position with theend .6 thereof projecting into the fire box of a stove or furnace. For,so mounting the combustion tube, the latter ma'y be provided near theend 6 thereof with an annu ar flange 7 adapted to be bolted to the wallof the furnace in an obvlous man-- ner. The burner further includes anatomizer embodying a casing, 8 horizontally mediate the ends of thelatter, the outer-tend of the casin 8 being open and the inner endthereof be Thevcasing 8 is divided by a partition into end 6:; ofthecombustion tube 5. mounted within the combustion tube intering closedasclearly shown.

inner and outer chambers 9 and 10 which communicate by the provision ofa central opening 11 in said partition, and communieating with the innerchamber- 9 is the up-e turned end-of a pipe 12 which passes through thebottom of the combustion tube 5-=andextends from an air compressor 13that is preferably driven by means 'of'an' "electric motor 14 as shownin Figure 6. A

float chamber 15 is suitably ,mounted be- 'neath the combustion tube 5and has an out-. let pipe 16 that projects upwardl above the floatchamber and extends upwar ly through the combustion. tube 5 and easing 8so as to terminate directly in frontof the opening 155 11 in thepartition of the'casing 8 within the outer compartment or chamber 10 ofthe I latter. It is thus apparentthat when air under pressure .issupplied 'to'the casing 8 through pipev'l2 by operation of comres'sor-T'lo 13, such compressed air will pass t rough the opening-11insmall volume but relatively great velocity so as toiflow directly acrossthe open upper end of the outlet pipe L16, thereby drawing the oil fromthe fioat' l5;

chamber 15 upwardly through the pipe 16 andlcausing theforwardprojection of the comingled air and oilin a finely divided oratomized spray which passes. out of the forward open end of the casing 8for mixtureBo with the additional. air admitted into the combustion tube5 through the open inner end 6a of the latter. '.Naturally,. the draftof air into and through the combustion tube may be obtained eitherthrough the reliance uponna'tural draft, or upon theuse of a .fan'connected to the intake end-6a of the combustion tube, as is well knownin the art. Thus, the air supplied by the com- I pressor 13 effectsthefeeding and atomizing of theoil, and is not supplied. in such quan-.tity astosupport combustion, the required amount of additional air forthe latter purpose-being supplied through the open inner Thechamber'1'5i'is employed to maintain a'supply of'oil adjacent theburner, and the oil is fed thereto'from a suitable source of supply'inany desired or preferred manner.

-.As shown, the 'Qi1 i ef.pr f y suppliednfma ,to the chamber 15 from amain reservpir or storage tank 17, by gravity, through a su ply pipe 18communicatlng with a top iniet 19 of the chamber 15. For the purpose ofmaintaining a constant level of oil within the chamber 15, a float 20 is'pivotally .mounted as at 21 within the lower part of in the chamber 15rises, the float 20 will rise until the oil reaches the desired level inthe chamber 15, at which time the valve 23 will be engaged with the seat24 for cutting 011' the supply of. oil to the chamber 15. A shut offvalve 25 is preferably provided in the su ply pipe 18 for convenience incutting o the suppl of oil to the chamber 15 from the tank 1 when theburner or ad'acent parts require repair or the'like.

ispos ed beside the float chamber 15 is a second float chamber 26, andthe upper part of the chamber 15 is-placed in communication with theupper part of the chamber 26 by means of a orizontal overflow pipe 27.Arranged within the'float chamber 26 1s a float 28 having an upstandingstem 29 that slidably extends through the top of the.

chamber 26 and has its upper end loosely pivoted to the adjacent arm ofa catch 30 which is pivoted to the upper end of a post 31 carried by thetop of the chamber 26. The hooked end or arm of the catch 30 is arrangedto engage the weighted end of a lever 32 that is pivoted upon a post 33carried by the top of float chamber 15, and the other end of lever 32ispivoted to the upper end of a rod 34 slidably extending through thetop of the float chamber 15 and having a lateral arm 35 upon its lowerend arranged beneath the valve head 23 and having the stem 22 freelyslidable therethrough. Thus, with the weighted longer arm of the lever32 held raised by the catch 30 as shown in Figure 1, the arm 35 of rod34 will be held at a sufliciently low point to freely permit lowering ofthe valve head 23 away from the seat 24 when the float 20 lowers, andthe float 20 is free to raise the valve 23 to its .seat 24 when. thelevel of oil in the chamber 15 rises. However, should the oil rise to anexcessively high level within the chamber 15 for any reason, such as byreason of failure of the valve 23 to close or entirely out ofi thesupply of oil to the chamber 15 from pipe 18, the excess oil willoverflow through pipe 27 into float chamber 26, causing float 28 toriseso that stem 29 swings catch 30 'and causes the latter to disengage itshooked end from the weighted end of'lever 32 to raise the latter to itsseat 24, thereby effectively cutting off the supply of oil tc chamber15. In this way, operation of th burner is prevented when dangerousdefective operation of the float valve occurs.

- Pro ecting outwardly from the forward open end of the atomizer casing8 is ar arm 36 upon the outer end of which is, rigidly mounted a.vertical transversely disposed bafileplate 37 arranged in spacedrelation to but directly front'of the open end 01 the casing 8 as shownin Figure 1.- In this way, the baflie plate 37 deflects the spray oiatomized oil laterally against the sides 01 the combustion tube 5, andshould any exc'ess oil or more oil than will burn be drawn through thepipe 16 it will run down the sides of combustion tube 5 to the bottom 01the latter. In order to prevent this excess oil from passing out of theends of the combustion tube 5, the latter is preferably pro-' vided withbottom upturned ledges or lips 38, and a pipe 39 communicates with thebottom of the tube 5 directly beneath the arin 36 for draining theexcess oil from the bottom of tube 5 into the float chamber 26. saidoverflow pipe 39 extending into the latter 'for this purpose. Shouldthe. amount of oil drained from combustion tube 5 through pipe 39 reacha predetermined level in the ,chamber 26, the float 28 will have beenraised sufliciently to release catch from lever32 so that the latterwill operate valve member 23 and thereby cut off the supply of oil tothe chamber 15. This renders the burner inoperative until the supply ofoil through the pipe 16 is properly regulated or reduced. Further, thespra of oil and air striking against the baflie 3 will be directedlaterally to more thoroughly break up the oil and causea thoroughmixture with the air entering the tube 5, thusinsuring. thoroughcombustion of the inflammable mixture issuing from the outer end 6 oithe combustion tube. As the pipe 39 is shielded beneath the arm 36 andis arranged a considerable distance from the outer end 6 of the tube 5where the flame is had, ignition of the oil in the pipe 39 and chamber26 is rendered unlikely.

A valve 40 is provided in the pipe 16 for controlling the flow of oilfrom the float chamber 15 to the atomizer of the burner, and this valveincludes a movable valve member or head not shown adapted to freelyreciprocate in a vertical direction and to normally lower by gravity toits seat. The pole piece of an electro-magnet 42 has a projecting endsurrounded by a stem 43 of insulating material which is adjustablythreaded into the top of the casing of valve 40, and the-valve membernot shown is constructed of magnetic material so as to-be attracted bythe pole piece of magnet 42 for being elevated to open position; Themagnet 42 is of a vwell known type adapted to be applied withalternating current, and which, when energized, will cause rapidreciprocation of valve member, the alternations of current passingthrough the magnet intermittently attracting the valve member andreleasing the same. Thus, when the magnet 42 is de-energized, the valvemember 41 will automatically close and rea main closed, and when themagnet 42 is energized, the. valve member not shown will be reciprocatedto permit the flow of fuel I from the chamber 15 and at the same timehave a churning action upon the oil so as to transform it into a foamystate for being more readily broken up and atomized when issuing fromthe open upper end of pipe 16 in the path of the air supplied by thecompressor through pipe 12. Obviously, by threading the stem 43 todifierent distances within the casing of valve 40, the degree of openingof valve may be adjusted for preventing excessive supply of oil throughpipe 16 such as will cause introduction o a greater amount of oil intocombustion tube 5 than will burn. However, the regulation of the flow ofoil through pipe 16 may be varied in any suitable manner such as by theuse of an additional control valve, the. principal function of valvebeing to control the'o ening and closing of pipe 16 and to effect thechurning of the oil supplied to the burner or the atomizer of thelatter.

What I claim as new is 1. In a liquid fuel burning apparatus thecombination with a. combustion chamber of a burner located therein andconsisting of a hollow integral casting open at one end and closed atthe other end, and having a baflie plate located in front of the openend, said casting being formed with a transverse partition having anopenin therethrough for the passage of a r, an dividing the casting intotwo chambers, one of which is rovided at its'base with means forthe'supp y of liquid fuel, the latter means comprising a tube terminatinin line with the opening through said partition, and con structed andadapted to cause va orization of the fuel issuing therefrom by t ecurrent of air through the partition.

2. A liquid fuel burner constructed and adapted for insertion in asuitable combustion chamber and consisting of a hollow elongated castinclosed at one end and open at the other on and formed with a transversepartition dividing the casting into two chambers, and formed with adiminished I aperture for the passage of an air jet, said

